The Elementary Forms of Sports Fandom: a Durkheimian Exploration of Team Myths, Kinship, and Totemic Ritual

966 Words4 Pages
The elementary forms of sports fandom: A Durkheimian exploration of team myths, kinship, and totemic rituals was written by Michael Serazio. In this essay he explores the myths, kinship, and rituals of Philadelphia Phillies fans during their historic 2008 World Series victory in the United States' professional baseball league using Durkheimian's theoretical framework. Many fans adored the Philadelphia's and were die hard fans for them. They felt honered to be cheering for that team, and were not afraid to show it. There were countless many fans branded with the totemic badge of unity: that tribal mark that had long symbolized unrequited devotion, the Philies logo of Philadephia's professional baseball team (Serazio 2013 pg.1). Serazio did research on fans of the Philles to conduct his paper, his observation included: going to local bars to watch how fans behaved during game time, attending the Phllies rally at City Hall, attending the riot on Broad Street, and also attending the parade through downtown, and reading the coverage in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and lastly listening to a local sports talk radio for a hour every day. We first begin with what Serazio calls the Civic Totem. The Philies were a civic symbol who represented the Philadelphia's. Durkheimian bases this off religion by saying that the team was (God) and the the fans were (society). The Phillies felt as if their fans helped them win the championship, and that without them they wouldn't be there. Players unknowingly indulge this mythology when they dote upon the vacuous old sports cliche: "We couldn't have won this without the fans." (Serazio 2013 pg.4). The totem is abundent with the team wins a victory. Familes celebrated as well as strangers. People who had never met befor coming together for a game embraced one another, laughing and celebrating like they had known each other for years. The love

More about The Elementary Forms of Sports Fandom: a Durkheimian Exploration of Team Myths, Kinship, and Totemic Ritual

Open Document